Chapter 2: Return! The Roaring Call Of the Digital World!
Whist Takuya was abruptly reunited with a injured long lost friend, back in the soccer field where the other legendary warriors stood the group had gotten bored. Their goggleheaded leader has been gone for a couple of minutes now, and the small dose of adrenaline from the game that had been coursing through them had faded, leaving the teens slightly tired and irritated. The group had sat down and sprawled out across the now calm, green soccer field, watching the clouds float by.
Seriously, how hard is it to find a simple soccer ball? Koji thought.
"What's taking him so long..." Koji groaned moving into a sitting position. He was tempted to go in there and drag Takuya back out. Soccer or not, they were getting bored and the group was wanting to do something active on a hot, long summer day.
"Maybe it went farther than expected. It was Takuya who kicked it." Tommy said, rolling into a different laying position in the grass. "Farther away or not, this is still far too long to find a simple soccer ball!" Zoe huffed. The others nodded in agreement.
Moments later the bushes rustled and Takuya sped out of them, cradling something in his arms. Kouichi sighed in relief and stood up, the rest of the group following shortly after, hoping to restart their game once more and continue their fun summer day plans.
"Finally!" Koji sighed. "What took you so long-" He stopped, taking a moment to finally realize that what was in Takuya's hands was clearly not the lost ball, or anything similar to it, as it was brown color, and it was moving slowly, up and down. It took him a moment for the twin to realize that it was breathing. Koji stumbled over his steps, the gears in his mind clicking together slowly.
"T-Takuya, what do you have there?" He stuttered in shock, taking another few seconds to realize that he knew very well what exactly laid in the brunettes arms. "What do you think is in my arms? A soccer ball?" Takuya said sarcastically. He got a bit closer and lowered his arms, letting everyone see what was in the young brunettes arms.
There was not mistaking it now. Takuya had brought back something much more important than an old soccer ball: He had brought back a friend. A friend they hadn't seen in four years. Takuya was holding Lopmon.
"What!?" Tommy yelled loudly, before realizing what he was doing and quieted down. He didn't want the whole town to hear him. The legendary warriors quickly walked over to Takuya and the unconscious Lopmon. "He's injured!" Zoe exclaimed, looking over the tired digimon. Takuya hadn't been paying attention before, but now that he took a look at it, Lopmon's small body was riddled with small, fresh injuries. Even his left ear was bandaged near the end of it.
"He kinda passed out on me after he showed up." Takuya explained sheepishly, and the group entered an uneasy silence. At first, each member felt a burst of happiness run through them:a Digimon had come to them. Right now, the only thing they hoped was that he brought good tidings. But with injuries, their hopes weren't that strong.
Breaking the silence once again, Tommy was the once to voice their fears."What's going on? Didn't we save the digital world? So why is he here?"
Takuya, who had barely taken his vision off Lopmon, couldn't answer."I don't know.." he mumbled, before putting on a fake smile. He didn't want to worry anybody with anything yet. They had just been reunited with an old friend, after all.
"We'll just have to wait for him to wake up!" he said, surprising the group with his sudden burst of optimism. "First things first though, We need to take him to a safer place." He explained. From they way Lopmon looked, the warrior of flame could tell quite easily that those marks weren't from tripping: he had been attacked by someone. Besides, other people would freak out if a strange stuffed animal started walking around and talking.
"Let's take him to the hidden place. It's secluded from almost everyone." Kouichi suggested. Takuya nodded in unison, and the warriors took off from the park.
Just as they got to the sidewalk, Takuya quickly hid Lopmon from view by sliding into the center of the group, not wanting to explain why he was carrying around a strange large rabbit.
Suddenly feeling a pair of eyes glaring at his from behind him, Takuya whipped his head around just in time to see a large shadow disappear behind a corner. Thinking it was just his paranoia playing tricks on him, Takuya turned his attention forward and kept running.
There couldn't be another digimon in the human world...
Right?
"Tch. He found them."
"What should we do?"
"We wait. Once they're somewhere secluded, we'll get them. Just wait."
"Kekekeke! This will be fun!"
Unfortunately for the team, The hidden place just happened to be one small subway trip away. The gang halted to a stop right in front of the station, breathing slightly harder from running all the way here. Takuya ducked behind the group, hiding Lopmon from unwanted view.
"Oh great. How are we going to get Lopmon through the station? " Koji asked cynically. "It's an hour away on foot." He added.
"We could always just pretend he a stuffed animal." Zoe suggested, taking Lopmon from Takuya and holding him like she would hold a teddy bear. Takuya snickered, wondering how the celestial digimon would react if he was conscious during this. A mighty celestial digimon, now acting as a teenage girls stuffed animal. Tommy quietly joined in on the snickering before Zoe let out a small 'hmpf' began walking into the station.
The group, after calming down slightly,let out a sigh of relief as they somehow got pass the gates and onto the train, with everyone believing that their digimon friend was just a strange stuffed animal. They sat down on the nearest bench and waited.
Minutes passed by and the group began to get anxious. Truthfully, there was no telling when Lopmon could wake up. Feeling like a worry-wort, Takuya broke his focus and constant glances from the unconscious digimon in his friends arms, and into the conversations of the other people around him. Most of it was whispers, stuff he couldn't make out, but then someone next to the group started to speak.
"Did you hear?"
"No, what?"
"There's been some strange explosions going on around Shibuya. People are thinking it's a terrorist attack." The brunettes eyes widened. Terrorist attacks? It couldn't be. Too many random explosions..digimon were fighting in the city.
"Wow, it's just like seven years ago all over again."Seven years ago? What happened seven years ago? For the third time today, the boys mind raced. Now, the thought of there being more than one digimon seemed possible.
Unfortunately for him, Takuya didn't have time to ask the two men chatting as the train stopped quickly, and the group rushed out in a hurry.
If he had stayed a little longer, he would have noticed a young man in the background, with navy blue hair and black, horn-rimmed glasses, staring shocked for a while at the group's unexpected member.
"No way...a new digidestined?" Joe Kido thought to himself. He thought that they were the only digidestined in Japan, but now there's that boy he doesn't know? He needs to tell Tai about this. It's a good thing he was going to Shibuya for a medical seminar, or else he would have never found out about him. Although, there was this nagging feeling in the back of his head, like he knew that boy with the hat and goggles...
The hidden place was an area that Koji had found a while back while walking his dog. Apparently some years back, a group of teens had moved a couch into a secluded part of an old park, and eventually built a shack of sorts around it, and had come there a lot to hang out, as there was leftover things everywhere. The place was still in fairly good condition, so when Koji showed it to them, the group almost instantly claimed it their new secret hangout.
Takuya ran to the door, opening it quickly and then laying Lopmon down on the old couch. Koji came in shortly after, reaching underneath a chair to pull out an emergency kit. He pulled out a roll of bandages, and went to work. The brunette slowly slid back into a chair in the corner, watching as the rest of the team watched Koji with slight worry.
"The digital world is in trouble. We need your help." Lopmon's words still echoed in his head quite loudly.
What could have gone wrong? Lucemon is gone forever since his data was deleted and we reset the digital world. Everything's supposed to be peaceful again...The gogglehead thought.
Or maybe..is wasn't Lucemon at all..But what other kind of digimon would do something like this? Most of the creatures of the digital world were peaceful and kind, minus the ones who were under the influence of Cherubimon. The brunette hadn't seen the digital world for three years, but he know the inhabitants like the back of his hand. Then again, the royal knights were serving Lucemon of their own free will, but they are long gone, data reset and memories wiped. There should be nothing in the digital world should be that evil to try to attack it.
Maybe it's from a different digital world... A dull pulse of pain rang through Takuya's head, his headache from this morning returning again.
I shouldn't be thinking all this so much.. it hurts my head. Takuya groaned slightly, leaning back and staring at the wooden roof.
"You okay Takuya?" Tommy asked, noticing the brunettes discomfort. Takuya nodded slowly. "Just a little headache." He replied. Slowly, his thoughts went right back to where they were before, zoning Takuya out of focus and into his thoughts. Moments later, a certain blonde began to try to regain his attention.
"Takuya?" Zoe asked, waving her hand in front of his unfocused line of vision. She said his name twice more before he snapped out of it, stumbling a bit back and making Zoe giggle.
"What?" He asked. "Why did you look so worried when you came out of the bushes?" She asked, glancing back towards their unconscious visitor. Kouichi came back in and slowly put new bandages on where Lopmon currently had some, then new ones on the remaining wounds. After a check for anymore injuries, the rabbit seemed to be not in any danger. Kouichi sighed in relief and sat down.
"What...did Lopmon say to you?" Zoe pressed. Takuya's expression darkened at her question, then gave a small smile. "Nothing really, not important info right now." The rest of the listening group gave a worried expression at his reaction.
"Takuya, everything he said right now IS important info." The blonde stated, pushing a bit further. "What did he say?" Takuya's smile faded and he slowly took a deep breath and said it fast.
"He told me that the digital world is in trouble." Takuya quickly stated.
The room fell into silence.
A look of horror and surprise had covered all of their faces.
"W-what?" JP stuttered. "How is it in trouble again?" He questioned. "I don't know..." the brunette muttered. Truthfully, he wished Lopmon had stayed conscious for a just a moment longer, so then he could have explained a few more things and have answers for their questions, and even some of his own. He would very much like to know what it was that was threatening the digital world. Takuya hated his own current feeling of complete and utter helplessness.
"Well, from what?" Zoe questioned. Takuya shrugged."Lucemon is gone, and Cherubimon is right in front of us, pleading for help..."He stated his previous thoughts. Still thinking, the teen continued."He couldn't tell me, he passed out before he could say much." He explained.
The digimon currently spoken of suddenly groaned, and began to stir in his sleep, he groaned again, as slowly his eyelids started to flicker. The teens were around him quite quickly to await his awakening.
Lopmon coughed, suddenly rising into a sitting position."Wha...Where am..I?" He coughed, blinking several times to clear his blurred vision. When it finally cleared, revealing the human occupants of the room, the rookie leveled celestial gave a small smile. "So much for a big entrance.." He joked, going into a coughing fit.
"Easy there buddy." Kouichi said, patting Lopmon softly on the back to try to ease the coughing. "You were pretty beat up when you found Takuya." the raven haired boy stated. Lopmon gave another small grin. "Right..thanks." he said, looking around to the rest of the group.
"Ah..your wondering why I'm here, right?" Lopmon asked, getting a unison of nods in response. "It's not everyday you see a digimon you haven seen in four years, beat up and saying the digital world was in trouble again." Tommy said, crossing his arms and taking a few steps closer. "So please, tell us what is going on in our other home." He pleaded, his voice quivering. Lopmon stared on in silence for a few moments, before sighing, nodding his bandaged in remembrance. "How could I forget...It was your guys home as well. Still is." He stated."And if I'm going to ask for your help, your going to need to know."
This got the groups attention once again. "Know what?" Kouji asked. Just as Lopmon opened his mouth to answer, a voice rang through out the room.
"DEMONIC GALE!" It screeched. Lopmon let out a gasp of horror and surprise. "GET DOWN!"
The room was suddenly thrown into chaos arcs of energy shot out, shattering the walls and sending them all flying away from the epicenter and straight towards the hard forest ground. Takuya groaned. "Did anyone catch the license plate of that truck?" He mumbled.
Sickening laughter resounded through out the forest trees, sending shudders down the legendary warriors backs as the large form of the attacker suddenly dropped down onto the center of what had remained of their hangout.
It was a huge, black and grey figure with terribly ripped black feathered wings. It's black, slippery skin could be considered armor if it hadn't been attached to its very being. It had a long, black tail that flipped back in forth in anticipation. Blood red claws gripped the tattered couch, and its four red eyes on a dog-like face and a sickening grin with sharp, pointed teeth.
"Dammit..We were found faster than I thought..." Lopmon cursed, focusing for a moment before developing his entire being in a bright light before it shattered, and a evenly battered Turuiemon took its place. He threw a smoke bomb from his pocket to the ground to hide their presence, and quickly moved to the teenagers. "We have to run, now!" He urged.
Takuya, slightly shaken up by the whole thing, nodded and quickly got up, the group shortly following. The team rushed away as the Devidramon burst through the smoke, leaving cracks in the ground around it. "Little pigs, little pigs, won't you come out and play?" It screeched, dashing through the trees at a fast pace towards them.
"Okay! Now would be a good time to explain some things, as well as why we are being attack by a champion level digimon in the human world!" Kouji said, ducking under a branch and continuing to run away from the virus-type digimon. Turuiemon looked back in thought for a second before throwing a couple of throwing stars at the attacker, who caught them between his teeth and crushed him with little to no effort. "Tasty.."He sneered.
Turuiemon paled at the display, as well as JP and Zoe in disgust. "I can't explain all right now, we need to get to the train station right now. But I can tell you this: We're currently at war, and he's one of the bad guys!" He said, punching said digimon who appeared right next to them suddenly. "Gauntlet Claw!" He echoed, releasing a several punch combo, sending the digimon sprawling into the trees once more. He panted, having put a lot of effort into the attack before motioning to an alley on the street. "C'mon! this way!" The ninja rabbit said.
The teens quickly rushed into the alley as Devidramon returned, slamming into the pavement with a crunch of the concrete. They quickly hid behind the garbage cans littering the alley as Devidramon glared inside. He took a few steps inside the area before suddenly turning to look down the street, glaring at something before flying off. Zoe sighed in relief. "That was too close."
Turuiemon frowned, wondering why he left before getting back up. "We're not out of the woods yet. We gotta make to the train station before he finds us again!" The ninja rabbit exclaimed, and the group was off again.
Getting back to the trains station was slightly irritating to the group, as they had to hide every once and a while when Devidramon would suddenly appear nearby, then take off again. Not only that, but they also had to hide their now champion level friend from people walking back in the streets. Then after what seemed to be half an hour, they finally reached the Shibuya train station.
"Yes!" Takuya cheered, rushing up the stairs. "We're finally here!"He grinned, just as a loud thud resounded from behind them. People screamed, and ran away in fear as the enemy champion returned once more.
"And I finally found you brats!"Devidramon crackled. Crawling up the steps. "Dammit!" Kouji yelled as they dashed up the stairs, The virus digimon causing a ruckus behind them. They slammed the doors shut behind them and ran to the elevator, but Devidramon wasn't a digimon that let up easily. "CRIMSON CLAW!" He shouted, as the small doors shattered, in a large explosion. People ran away, tripping over each other to get away from the strange monster that was just chasing the group of teens and a weird rabbit thing. The legendary warriors just kept running. Towards their destination, figuring that he would follow and leave the rest of them alone. "What I wouldn't give for my D-Tector right now..." Takuya mumbled.
They finally reached their destination, and Turuiemon grinned. "Yes! We made it! Lets hurry!" He exclaimed, and pulled out a strange, triangle looking key and put slammed it into the emergency keyhole. The whole elevator glowed with a blue light, before opening and the group flooding inside. Just as the group let out a sigh in relief, the elevator rumbled, and a large creaking noise rang through out the small room.
"Oh no..." the celestial digimon said. "He's gotten into the elevator shaft!" That was the last thing he said before a loud snap was heard, and the group was sent plummeting downwards...
Devidramon laughed. "Kekekeke! Lets see them survive that!"
Abit Rushed in the end, but I wanted to get it up to you awaiting readers. I am terribly sorry about this long delay, but this school year hasn't been the easiest.
Next time on Digimon:Digital Connections
"Huh? A new digidestined? Are you sure Joe?"
"Look, this is our world too! We're gonna fight for it like we did before!"